In every work of literature there lies a central theme that becomes apparent throughout the text. In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, the theme lies in the story of Miss Emily herself. From the very beginning the audience is thrown into Emily Grierson’s “tragic” backstory filled with love, loss, and heartache. The townspeople share the story of the notorious Emily Grierson, highlighting the parts of her life that were most crucial to her character. The theme of “A Rose for Emily” is simply that life is tragic and the objective is to rise above it. In situations such as the death of Emily’s father, the sickness induced by her loss, and the “disappearance” of Homer Barron, the audience can see that Emily Grierson’s own life was riddled with tragedy …show more content…
This sickness, though visible to the public for only a short amount of time, carries over into the rest of her life. “She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows – sort of tragic and serene” (Faulkner 32). Coupling this, according to Ray West, “the suggestion is that she had already begun her entrance into that nether-world (a world which is depicted later as “rose-tinted”)” (West). These quotes work together to show a contrast in Miss Emily; she is no longer the girl she was before, but rather a woman changed due to the loss of her father. “She was sick for a long time” hints at the possibility of the sickness lingering in Miss Emily even though the public has only been able to see bits and pieces of the illness. Furthermore, the next section of the text includes Miss Emily purchasing arsenic, for seemingly unknown purposes. Perhaps Miss Emily’s sickness is just as much mental as it is emotional. “People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last, believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner 32). Maybe craziness or some type of mental issue was passed along in Emily’s …show more content…
“When she had first begun to be with Homer Barron, we had said, “She will marry him.” Then we said, “She will persuade him yet,” because Homer himself had remarked – he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk Club – that he was not a marrying man. Later we said, “Poor Emily,” behind the jealousies as they passed on Sunday afternoon in the glittering buggy” (Faulkner 33). Miss Emily has seemingly found a man who is “good enough” for her after all this time. “Homer Barron was an unheroic figure who put too much dependence upon his self-centered and rootless philosophy, a belief which suggested that he could take whatever he wanted without considering any obligation to the past (tradition) or to the future (death). Emily's resistance is heroic” (West). Miss Emily and Homer Barron were apparent opposites; Emily was from a high-class Southern family and Homer was a simple day-laborer – obviously not good enough for her but the relationship held strong, for a